


Who Ya Gonna Call?

by Maniph



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: As in like they're 18 now not like they're old people, F/M, Multi, Older Characters, Some Swearing, Soos gets a mention also i guess, don't even worry about it, just a lil tiny bit, just like a scooch of swearing, just read it it's fine i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-05 22:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6726301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maniph/pseuds/Maniph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pacifica's finally gotten away from her family... Only to find herself living in a haunted apartment. Who else to call but Dipper?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Ya Gonna Call?

**Author's Note:**

> Okay this is one-shot Dippifica(spell check for ship names?) trash written for my friend Jordan. He plays video games on the internet, sometimes with me, if you guys wanna check him out at Fumbles and Stumbles on YouTube! I'm in the Portal vids. Enjoy!

Pacifica peered around the doorframe of her bathroom and squinted, trying to see something that wasn’t there. This settled it. Too many weird things were happening for it to be a coincidence. She needed help.

It had only been a few months since she’d completely cut herself off from her family. It had taken a horrifying party and the help of one… _Friend,_ to show her that being a Northwest wasn’t a life sentence. She had started putting away chunks of her allowance after that night, the night she almost got murdered by a ghost seeking revenge on the horrible group that made up her lineage. She saved up enough that, when she finally turned eighteen a handful of years later, she was able to escape. She completely cut herself off from her family, even cutting up the debit cards that linked her to their vast fortune. She had enough to keep her afloat for a while, but to play it safe, Dipper and Mabel had talked Lazy Susan into giving her a shot as a waitress over at Greasy’s Diner. It wasn’t the… _cleanest_ place, and Pacifica had to learn to not strut like a model when she walked the food to the tables, but it was definitely a more welcoming atmosphere than her parents’ house. The locals were starting to trust her, and she was at a really good place with herself, for once. Life was going great.

Except for her apartment. Fuck, her apartment. She had tried shopping around but the pickings were slimmer than she was, so she had basically settled on the first place that said they didn’t care how old their tenants were(not to mention she was allowed to have pets, and Dipper had been bugging her to let him store some small gnomes in her closet). Things had started off okay, actually. The Mystery Shack crew had helped her get settled in, save for Stan. He just griped and asked how much they were getting paid, despite Mabel’s insistence that friends don’t need to pay friends. Pacifica wanted to treat them, though, and so she bought them all pizza, which Stan only begrudgingly accepted when she gave him the change from the purchase. A few weeks after that night of laughing and pizza, though, she started noticing weird things. Things that just didn’t happen. And now this latest incident in the bathroom had finally pushed her over the edge.

Walking outside to the porch shared by all the inhabitants of the building, she sat on a flimsy plastic chair and folded one leg over the other’s knee. There was a little rainwater in the seat that immediately soaked into her pants, but she was used to that by now, and she ignored it. Pulling her phone from her hoodie’s pocket(who knew that dressing unfashionably was so handy?) she dialed the only person that could help with these… _weird_ things. Dipper.

About ten minutes after the message went from “Delivered” to “Read”, Dipper pulled into her building’s parking area in the truck that Soos always lent him when he was out of town visiting his girlfriend. As he stepped out of the cab, Pacifica couldn’t help looking him up and down. They had both changed in the years since that first summer they met. They were adults now. Dipper had moved to Gravity Falls to continue his Uncle Ford’s work, and Mabel was there to keep him company and slowly replace everything in the Mystery Shack with glitter covered lookalikes. Dipper was taller, and his chin had lost the roundness from their youth. It was stronger now, like his uncles’s, and covered in the characteristic stubble that all of the male Pines wore, though his was a dark brown instead of grey. His hair was still shaggy, but it had gotten to the length where he could tie it up(which he often did as a habit when he got focused on his work) and it really suited him. He was wearing the same old hat, lovingly taken care of since he had first gotten it, minus the various scuffs and burns from missions he’d been on. As he stretched his feet to the ground, his shirt slid up just the slightest bit, revealing a bit of the toned stomach that came with hunting monsters for a living, and a smattering of hair around his belly button. Pacifica smirked. “Hey, bestie.”

“Hey, Pacifica!” Dipper leaned over to the passenger seat to retrieve his backpack and shot a smile over his shoulder before heading over. “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner, but traffic was crazy.” This was an inside joke, stemming from the night when Pacifica had “run away”. Her parents were furious and forbade her driver from taking her anywhere on the night she told them she was thinking of moving out. As she cried on their front porch, surrounded by bags, Dipper had come roaring down the road in Stan’s old station wagon, screeching to a halt in front of her. She looked up, confused, wiping tears away as he got out and started loading her things into the trunk. “Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,” Dipper had said, shooting her a look. “Traffic was crazy.” It was eleven pm and most of the residents of the Falls were in home or in bed. Pacifica smiled… And then she laughed. She laughed so hard that she started to snort, and then Dipper started laughing too. They laughed until Pacifica became unsure if she was crying from frustration or joy.

“So, what’s the issue?” Pacifica remembered that he wasn’t there to stretch out and watch tv, or play weird old video games he insisted were amazing like they usually did. She suppressed a small shiver and tucked her cascading hair behind her ears, a habit she had picked up when she started hanging with Mabel a lot. Whenever her hair was hanging down or in her face, Mabel would push it back or tie it up with a scrunchie and tell her not to deprive the world of such a gorgeous… And then she would say something to make Pacifica laugh. A gorgeous nose, a gorgeous set of eyelashes, a gorgeous smile line. It always worked, even now.

“I… I think my apartment is haunted.” The playful light in Dipper’s eyes was immediately replaced by something she had been seeing more and more of. What was the word for it? A mixture between concern and excitement? And something else… Longing, maybe? Pacifica blushed, thinking of the meaning behind it. But, no, of course. Dipper loved _his work,_ he loved what _he did._ Not her. That was ridiculous. She cleared nonexistent phlegm from her throat and stood up.

“What’s been happening? Have the ghosts threatened you? Are they stacking your chairs precariously? ARE THEY STACKING YOUR CHAIR--” She loved it when Dipper got this excited, and she hated to break his heart, but…

“Nothing that serious. It’s just… Small things. Small things that bug me. I feel like they’re trying to do small stuff over and over and over until it’s one big mess and I go _crazy._ ” She didn’t notice the hitch in her voice until Dipper put his hand on her shoulder. In that moment, she was self-conscious and self-aware of everything she’d ever done or said around him.

“It’ll be okay, Pacifica. Don’t worry, alright?” He smiled that Dipper Pines smile and she melted a little, nodding dumbly. He wasn’t very far away. Less than a foot, and really, what was a few inches? She could just lean closer, she could just stretch up on her toes, she could—“Ready to get going?” She could blush and appear to get very interested in competitive ground staring. She nodded, taking the key set from her pocket and unlocking her building’s door. She stayed on the upper level, which had made moving her things just that much harder. But the way Dipper had carried her things with ease, his muscles flexing against the Mystery Shack tee shirt he had taken to wearing… It was worth it. As they arrived at her apartment, she hesitated. Looking back over her shoulder nervously, she saw Dipper give a reassuring smile, and she felt bolstered with confidence. Taking a deep breath, she slid her key into the lock, turned it, and pushed her door inward.

It was dark inside. She had quickly found out she could see… _things_ moving, everywhere, if the lights were on. She had practically been living in a cave. “Come on… The latest thing is in the bathroom.” Dipper reached into his backpack over his shoulder and brought out a small crystal. She wasn’t sure what it was or what it would do, but she trusted him. They crept through the living room slowly, and then brought their speed down to an absolute crawl as they entered the hallway that led to the offending area. Pacifica’s palms were suddenly extremely clammy, and she nearly died of embarrassment when Dipper slid his free hand into hers and gave a squeeze of reassurance.

“Ready?” He breathed quietly, so close to her ear that she could feel the heat of his breath against her skin. She didn’t trust herself to speak, and so she just nodded. “One.” She bit her lip. “Two…” She felt goosebumps raise on her neck. “Three!” Dipper hissed it urgently. He rushed forward, Pacifica pressing up against the wall to allow him easy passage past her. She stuck her head in the tiny space after him, just as he lifted the crystal high into the air. He began to chant and it started glowing a warm, rich shade of orange. After it became bright enough to make Pacifica squint, he tossed it up in the air and shouted “Show yourself, spirit!” And…

Nothing happened. Pacifica furrowed her brow, and Dipper did the same, though she couldn’t see him with his back turned to her. Had he gotten it wrong? Had _she?_ Dipper started tapping his foot and rubbing his chin, a tic that he had never quite gotten rid of. Looking around the bathroom, he squinted at anything that seemed to stand out. Pacifica kicked herself for not cleaning it last night like she had meant to, but she had discovered that cleaning was much harder when it was her doing the work and not servants. “What’s the issue in here, again?” He turned to her with a raised eyebrow. She pointed towards the sink, and his eyes followed her finger until they rested on the faucet. It was old, and dripping steadily with a faint _plop_ at each meeting of porcelain and water. “Uh… Huh?”

“Faucets don’t _do that_ , Dipper. They shouldn’t give you water unless you ask for it, right?” Dipper _hmm_ ed for a few minutes more, and then asked her to show her other things that went wrong. And so they went on a little ghost tour. The first stop was the corner of the living room ceiling, where the white had transformed into a green circle. Dipper nodded, and they moved on to the kitchen, where Pacifica showed him the dishwasher that the landlady swore worked, but left all of her dishes dirty no matter how many times she put them through it. And finally… “Are you sure you can protect me when I turn the lights on?” She whispered nervously. Dipper assured her that everything would be fine, and took a position in the middle of the room as his best friend fingered the light switch. “Ready?” Dipper nodded. She flipped the switch, and screamed. “ _Aaaaaaahhhhhh, look at them all!”_

                Dipper did look at them all. They surrounded him, they filled the entire space, they were _everywhere_. Except, he didn’t scream. He… Laughed? He was laughing harder than Pacifica had ever seen. Tears filled his eyes and he doubled over, red in the face, gasping for air. Pacifica went from scared, to confused, to annoyed. _“What’s so funny?”_

Dipper tried to speak, failed, took a deep breath, and tried again. Standing up straight, he wiped the tears from his eyes with a finger and looked her in the eye. “Pacifica… They’re just dust motes.” Pacifica felt her cheeks set themselves ablaze and she looked, down, then back up in defiance.

                “What about the sink?”

                “Leaky faucet.”

                “Dishwasher?”

                “Have you been using soap?”

                “The green circle in the corner?”

                “Just some mold. It’s harmless… I think?”

                This was the most embarrassing thing Pacifica had ever put herself through. Not only had she made herself look like a fool, but she had let Dipper glimpse at just how privileged she had been growing up. That Pacifica wasn’t her, and she didn’t want him to think it was. She just—

                “I can have it all fixed in no time, alright?” The red was fading from Dipper’s face. He saw that Pacifica was upset, and though he wasn’t completely sure why, he was positive that he wanted to help. “Soos has tools in the truck for the faucet, we can write a letter to your landlady about the mold, and we can dust and vacuum the whole place. So, cheer up, okay?” He did that thing where he tilted his head and smiled up, though now that he had grown to stand over her, it didn’t have quite the same effect.

                Nonetheless, she stopped pouting. And then she started smiling. And then, all of a sudden, she was laughing. She was laughing harder than Dipper had, and then he was laughing with her, his hand on his shoulder again, both of them bent at the waist and just letting the laughs and the tears come. Pacifica buckled under Dipper’s weight and they both fell onto the floor, which only made them laugh harder. Dipper’s hat fell off in the spill, and their hair fanned out on the floor together. Their laughing devolved into fits of giggling together. Dipper let his head roll towards Pacifica, and she let hers roll towards his. “Hey, Dipper…”

                “Yeah?” He whispered. They were close, and she could smell his breath. It smelled like the pencils he chewed on.

                “Thanks. For everything, today.” She blushed again and hated that that was becoming a habit around him. Dipper was the best investigator around, he definitely noticed. She was looking away again, down at their shoes, laying in a haphazard pile together. Then she felt Dipper’s finger on her chin, guiding her to look him in the eyes. He smiled at her, and then closed his eyes, leaning close to press his lips to hers. She felt his curved lips and she had to smile back into the kiss.

                “No problem.”

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I'm taking commissions and requests. Drop a line and I'll get back to you!


End file.
